Artificial Intelligence, English, and Translanguaging: Navigating Multilingual Communication in the Digital Age
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66121/vmyv9j11Keywords:
AI-based educationAbstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping academic and communicative practices, particularly through natural language processing (NLP), machine translation, speech recognition, and language-learning technologies. In multilingual Southern African contexts, these developments have renewed interest in translanguaging as a way of understanding multilingual meaning-making in digital environments. This conceptual paper examines how AI and NLP models intersect with translanguaging practices in relation to the Nguni languages, particularly siNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, and siSwati. It considers how AI-mediated translanguaging may support multilingual communication, English language learning, digital literacy, and learner autonomy, while remaining constrained by data scarcity, uneven technological investment, and culturally embedded meanings. The paper argues that while AI tools may support language acquisition and communication, Nguni languages contain culturally specific lexicons, euphemistic expressions, prosodic features, and patterns of diction that vary across communities. These cultural and linguistic features complicate any attempt to treat AI-supported translanguaging as a purely technical problem. Any AI model intended for Nguni-language communication must therefore account for the cultural imperatives, semantic nuance, and educational realities of these languages.
Downloads
References
Asfaha, Y. M., Spotti, M., & Idris, K. (2024). Translanguaging Pedagogies in the Global
South: Review of classroom practices and interventions. The Routledge handbook of multilingualism, 252-268. -https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anne-Laaredj-
Alexander, R. (2010). Children, their world, their education (pp. 279-310). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203890615
Charamba, E., & Zano, K. (2019). Effects of translanguaging as an intervention strategy in a
South African Chemistry classroom. Bilingual Research Journal, 42(3), 291-307. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2019.1631229
Charamba, E. (2023). Translanguaging as bona fide practice in a multilingual South African science classroom. International Review of Education, 69(1), 31-50. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/ 10.1007/s11159-023-09990-0.pdf
Devasena, R. (2024). Artificial Intelligence in Education: An Alternative to Traditional Learning. Journal of English Language Teaching 66.1 (2024): 13-21. https://doi.org/10.66121/45wnfw13
Du Toit, J. S., & Puttkammer, M. J. (2021). Developing core technologies for resource-scarce Nguni languages. Information, 12(12), Article 520. https://doi.org/10.3390/info12120520
Eiselen, R. (2016, May). South African language resources: phrase chunking. In Proceedings
of the Tenth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC'16) (pp. 689-693). https://aclanthology.org/L16-1109.pdf
García, O., & Li Wei. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765
Heugh, K. (2018). Commentary-Linguistic citizenship: Who decides whose languages, ideologies, and vocabulary matter? The multilingual citizen: Towards a politics of language for agency and change, 174-192. https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/92872555/978-1-137-54856
Heugh, K., Harding-Esch, P., & Coleman, H. (2021). Southern multilingualisms, translanguaging, and transknowledging in inclusive and sustainable education. Language and the Sustainable Development Goals, 37-47. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hywel
Heugh, K., French, M., Arya, V., Pham, M., Tudini, V., Billinghurst, N., & Viljoen, J. M. (2022). Multilingualism, translanguaging and transknowledging: Translation technology in EMI higher education. AILA Review, 35(1), 89-127. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/jbp/aila/
Hibbert, L., & Van der Walt, C. (2014). Biliteracy and translanguaging pedagogy in South Africa: An overview. Multilingual universities in South Africa: Reflecting society in higher education, 97, 1. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en
Liu, K., & Afzaal, M. (2021). Artificial Intelligence (AI) and translation teaching: A critical perspective on the transformation of education. International Journal of Educational Sciences, 33(1-3), 64-73. https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2021.1990369
Makalela, L. (2015). Translanguaging as a vehicle for epistemic access: Cases for reading comprehension and multilingual interactions. Per Linguam: A Journal of Language Learning Per Linguam: Tydskrif vir Taalaanleer, 31(1), 15-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.5785/31-1-628
Makalela, L. (2017). Bilingualism in South Africa: Reconnecting with Ubuntu Translanguaging. Bilingual and multilingual education, 3, 297-310. http://www.springer.com/series/15111
Makalela, L. (2019). Uncovering the universals of ubuntu translanguaging in classroom discourses. Classroom discourse, 10(3-4), 237-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463014.2019.1631198
Madiba, M. (2014). Promoting concept literacy through multilingual glossaries: A translanguaging approach. Multilingual universities in South Africa: Reflecting society in higher education, 68-87. doi.org/10.21832/9781783091669-007
Maseko, K., & Mkhize, D. N. (2021). Translanguaging mediating reading in a multilingual South African township primary classroom. International Journal of Multilingualism, 18(3), 455-474.https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2019.1669608
Mbirimi-Hungwe, V. (2021). An insight into South African multilingual students’ perceptions about using translanguaging during group discussion. Applied Linguistics, 42(2), 252–268. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amaa012
Mwaniki, M. (2016). Translanguaging as a class/lecture-room language management strategy in multilingual contexts: Insights from autoethnographic snapshots from Kenya and South Africa. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 34(3), 197-209. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2016.1250357
Motaung, L. B. (2024). Translanguaging pedagogical practice in a tutorial programme at a South African university. International Journal of Language Studies, 18(1).
Ndhlovu, F. (2017). Southern Development Discourse for Southern Africa: Linguistic and cultural imperatives. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 12(2), 89-109. https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2016.1277733
Omidire, M. F., & Ayob, S. (2022). The utilisation of translanguaging for learning and teaching in multilingual primary classrooms. Multilingua, 41(1), 105-129. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2020-0072
Ownby, C. P. (1981). Early Nguni history: linguistic suggestions. South African Journal of African Languages, 1(1), 60-81. https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.1981.10586450
Probyn, M. (2016). Language and the opportunity to learn science in bilingual classrooms in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24511
Probyn, M. (2019). Pedagogical translanguaging and the construction of science knowledge in a multilingual South African classroom: Challenging monoglossic/post-colonial orthodoxies. Classroom Discourse, 10(3-4), 216-236. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463014.2019.1628792
Probyn, M. (2021). Translanguaging for learning in EMI classrooms in South Africa: An overview of selected research. English-medium instruction and translanguaging, 158-172. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788927338-015
Prinsloo, M., & Krause, L. S. (2019). Translanguaging, place and complexity. Language and Education, 33(2), 159-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2018.1516778
Ruder, S., Vulić, I., & Søgaard, A. (2019). A survey of cross-lingual word embedding models. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, 65, 569-631. https://doi.org/10.1613/jair.1.11640
Rudwick, S. (2021). The ambiguity of English as a lingua franca: Politics of language and race in South Africa. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429031472
Santorelli, M., & Catullo, D. (2023). Human mobility and language: towards new multilingual approaches with AI. In Creşterea economică în condiţiile globalizării (pp. 151-161). https://doi.org/10.36004/nier.cdr.V.2023.17.16
Schoeman, J. C., Geertsema, S., Le Roux, M., & Pottas, L. (2023). The Effect of Pedagogical Translanguaging on Foundation Phase Classrooms in a South African Private School. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2023.2165494
Statistics South Africa. (2024). Census 2022 in brief. Statistics South Africa.
Tseng, A., & Hinrichs, l. (2021). Mobility and the English. The Handbook of English Linguistics, 637. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/
Tzirides, A. O. (2024). Artificial Intelligence Integration in Translingual Language Learning:
Enhancing Communication and Digital Literacy. In Trust and Inclusion in AI-Mediated Education: Where Human Learning Meets Learning Machines (pp. 261-286). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031
Yafele, S. (2021). Translanguaging for academic reading at a South African university. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 39(4), 404-424. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2021.1981767
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of English Language Teaching
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
